A.M. Roundup: Cuomo bill would create new charges

Good morning! The warm weather continues, with the same forecast threat of showers. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is in New York City with no announced public schedule. Lt. Gov. Bob Duffy will be in Albany this afternoon to make an announcement. There will be Cuomovangelization in Buffalo, Clifton Park, New York City and Watertown. Here are this morning’s headlines…

“The governor’s proposals are a good first step. Stronger penalties are needed,” said Citizens Union Executive Director Dick Dadey. “But I feel like I’m sitting on the set of Monty Hall’s ‘Let’s Make a Deal’ waiting to see what’s behind door number two.” (TU)

Newsday: These changes would be improvements, but election laws must change too. Entrenched incumbency, the power of party bosses and noncompetitive elections are problems. In New York, we rue the crimes, but often it’s the legal maneuvers that corrupt the system more. (Newsday)

Michael Goodwin: In a dreary event that smacked of a placeholder for real action, Cuomo summoned a handful of district attorneys to tout changes aimed at making it easier to use state laws to prosecute political corruption.//Some penalties would be increased and standards lowered for conviction, moves Cuomo claimed would give prosecutors “the tools they need.”//Maybe, but it’s not legal hurdles that keep DAs from doing corruption cases. They themselves are part of the political system, backed by the party bosses and running with some of the people they should be prosecuting. That’s the main reason corruption cases usually fall to federal prosecutors, and the new laws wouldn’t change that.//Cuomo flicked at that fact in an answer to a reporter’s question, just as he flicked at a question about term limits. Neither subject elicited much enthusiasm. (NYP)

The Daily News: Down through the decades, lawmakers have toughened every conceivable politically pleasing section of the Penal Law — except those covering crimes that only they can commit.//As written, New York’s bribery statute for public officials forces prosecutors to meet an extraordinarily high burden of proof — a much higher burden than federal authorities must meet.//At the same time, the state’s grand jury laws severely discourage prosecutors from issuing subpoenas to witnesses who may know about corruption for fear that taking testimony will grant the witnesses full and complete immunity for all hidden felonies.//Cuomo would make it just as easy to prove bribery by a member of the Legislature as, say, by a basketball referee. He would also subject to criminal prosecution officials who know of corrupt acts but fail to report them. (DN)

New York Post: Unfortunately, without a clear definition of the root of the problem, even a good reform would be doomed to toothlessness.//Our definition begins by rejecting the simplistic mantra that corruption is a problem of money in politics. The truth is that it’s a problem caused by the power over money, or the ability to make money, held by politicians. People bribe them because they want access to taxpayer funds that pols can send their way — or they want some favor that gives them some advantage when it comes to making money. (NYP)

“In any group there are rotten apples. It’s unfortunate that it happened,” said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, referring to the federal bribery indictment filed last week against Assemblyman Eric Stevenson D-Bronx.“I don’t feel any responsibility. I don’t interview people [when they run for office].” (NYP)

Jim Dwyer: On dry land, it appears that the nearest relative of the squid would be the Albany legislator: It is hard to tell one from another, they are often spineless, and perhaps most critical to their survival, possess enough suction power to keep them glued to their chairs in perpetuity, or at least until indictment or death. (Mere unconsciousness is no obstacle: one legislator learned he had “voted” for a bill when he was actually in a hospital, anesthetized and undergoing surgery.) (NYT)